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Month: February 2010

As I ran tonight with the temperatures in the mid 20s, I couldn’t help but smile. Tomorrow we leave for a long-awaited trip to the Caribbean and I’m pretty sure my next runs will be about 50 degrees warmer! I’m not even sure I remember how to run in shorts.

So Thursday I went out, was feeling great and decided to do a little longer run than my typical mid week run, and did just over 7 miles. And I even pushed the pace a bit and came away from it feeling motivated and energized. I knew I was aiming to do the longest run I’ve ever done on Saturday (a 12 mile run), so I had a rest day on Friday.

Saturday morning came, and with it, decent weather compared to what we’ve been battling around here. I had a little breakfast, had a nice stretch, got suited up and headed out. Right from the very first steps of the run, I could feel that I just didn’t have it. I pushed through, being careful not to let myself jump to conclusions, and just kept running. Usually within the first couple of miles, I can feel my body find a nice rhythm and cadence and the miles will just go by. But it never happened. I had it in my head that I wanted to do 12, so I pushed and pushed, but really bonked at 10 and just didn’t want to go on and risk injury.

After spending the rest of the afternoon in a bad mood because of my “failure,” I checked in on DailyMile to see great encouragement from running friends.

“Congrats on getting 10miles in after that first step; that is pure heart.” Jessica H

“Sometimes it’s just not meant to happen. I’m impressed you stuck with it for 10 miles feeling the way you did!” Tracey G

“It’s still an awesome week for you. You’re really putting on the miles. Keep up the good work!” Doug A

Seriously, how could anyone stay in a bad mood after reading great encouragement like that? That’s one of the aspects I absolutely love about running: the community of positive, giving people it attracts. Amazing.

“Everybody gets knocked down,
Everybody gets knocked down,
How quick are you gonna get up?
How quick are you gonna get up?”

It is true. I am a serial killer of iPods. After my long run on Saturday, I got home, put my gear in the wash and went on about my day. And then I realized I had left my iPod Shuffle clipped to my jacket, and so it died. A slow, agonizing, brutal, drowning.

So I had to start using my son’s Shuffle. Today, I got back from my run, put my gear in the wash and went on about my day.

You guessed it. Forgot my boy’s Shuffle was clipped to my jacket. It, too, suffered a death you wouldn’t wish upon an enemy.

Blue Apple iPod Shuffle. Christmas 2008 – February 2010. A trusted friend. Never complained even when I played Britney at 6:00 AM.

“Pitchers and cacthers report” may well be the finest phrase in the English language. I say this for two reasons.

I love baseball. L-O-V-E it.

It’s a sure sign that spring isn’t too far away.

This week has been brutal weather-wise. Inches upon inches of snow continue to fall, and then, to make matters worse, lots of wind and lots of cold. Biting cold. My past three runs have been at the gym on a treadmill and I can’t stand it.

I do plan to find a 5K here or there in between as well, but these are the major races. I also added a little race widget over there on the right from DailyMile which includes a countdown to each race so I know when to start panicking.

I owe a big thank you to Mike Burns for helping this rookie put together a solid plan to get to my goals.

A huge milestone for me tonight, my first ten mile run ever. I knew I was doing my long run for the week tonight (due to the impending winter storm) and I think I got a little too amped up and tied my shoes too tight! About 7.5 miles in, I started to feel some pain in my left foot right where the laces tie, but I just decided to run through it. About a mile later the pain was gone. The rest of the run went well.

After consulting more experienced runners on DailyMile, I decided to use some Body Glide tonight. Yep, that’s right folks: too much nipple pain on the long runs for this guy. The Body Glide worked like a dream and I can report my nipples as pain free. I can practically hear the collective sighs of relief.

I also brought water with me for the first time and it really did help. In yet another fine example of a rookie mistake, I went bounding out the door never having figured out how to get the water bottles off the belt. So instead, I got to figure it out mid-run. In the dark. With gloves on. “For I am Costanza, lord of the idiots.”

I also used my first energy gel, a Clif Shot (Razz flavored) after about 6.5 miles. Tough to tell whether it helped a lot since I don’t have another 10-miler to compare against, but it did give me a bit of a boost, so I’ll take it.